3AM Bonding
by not-politics-as-usual
Summary: A night time feed turns into a bonding session.


The wailing baby in the bassinet woke the occupants of the bed next to it, 'I've got him, you sleep, you've got work tomorrow' Elizabeth whispered, rubbing Henry's back 'y'sure?'

'Yeah, go back to sleep' she said swinging her feet over the end of the bed and rubbing her eyes.

She reached for her infant son and picked him up 'ok little man, what's up? You hungry' she said, kissing the side of his head and holding him close. She carried jason downstairs and into the kitchen, soothing him the whole time 'I know baby, I know, you're so hungry and mommy is taking her time getting you a bottle' she lulled, putting a bottle in the warmer and bouncing him round the kitchen, hoping his wails couldn't be heard by her sleeping family upstairs.

She was swaying side to side slightly, when a small voice from the door caught her attention.

'Mom?'

She turned to see Stevie standing in the doorway, hair barely held in the ponytail she'd gone to bed in.

'Yeah baby?'

'What's the matter with Jason? Is he ok?'

The question took Elizabeth by surprise. Stevie had shown very little interest in her brother since Henry and Elizabeth had told her she was going to have a brother and had instead become very clingy to her father. They concluded that it was perhaps because Stevie thought a father-son bond might be stronger than the one she had so had tried to make no room in Henry's life for Jason.

'Yeah he's fine. He's just hungry and being very impatient, and letting the whole neighbourhood know that his mommy is taking too long to heat his milk up' Elizabeth said, still bouncing her whimpering baby close.

She took the bottle from the warmer and grabbed a blanket that was over the back of a kitchen chair and made her way into the lounge and sat on the couch, Stevie following her and sitting close 'can I stay with you while you feed him?'

'Of course, but aren't you tired? You've got school in the morning'

'I just wanna stay with you for a little bit' Stevie replied looking up at her with big sleepy eyes and Elizabeth knew that no matter what Stevie had asked for in that moment, she would have given it to her.  
'Ok baby. Let's feed your brother shall we? Then we can all get back to sleep'

Elizabeth started feeding Jason the bottle, who took it eagerly and for a few moments there was only the suckling sound.

'He's really hungry isn't he? I'm never that hungry in the middle of the night'

'Well he's growing all the time and it uses up all the energy he has so he needs to feed almost all the time...even if it's at 3am...do you want to do it?' Elizabeth asked cautiously. Since Jason had come home 4 days ago Stevie had yet to willingly hold Jason. She held him for pictures or at the insistence of her parents but she'd never asked to, not like Alison who asked constantly then became instantly bored when he was placed carefully on her knee. Stevie was watching Jason intently, then looked at her mother and nodded 'Yeah, ok, but will you help me?'

'Of course, now grab that cushion and put it on your lap' she instructed and then when Stevie was all sorted she transferred the baby from her arms to Stevies and gave her the bottle.

'Just make sure you keep the bottle up so he doesn't get any air or it'll give him a pain in his tummy ok? Yeah that's it, you're doing great' she praised as Stevie followed her mothers instructions and carefully fed her brother, smiling a little.

They sat in silence, both just watching Jason feed, Elizabeth stroking stevies dishevelled hair away from her face  
'Mom, he's finished, does he want some more?'

'No that's all he gets at the minute, he'll have another bottle around 6 when he wakes up. For now we just need to wind him then get him back to sleep, you wanna try that too?' She got Jason into the right position 'that's it, now just pat his back gently until he burps'

Stevie, again, did as instructed and both were so involved in what they were doing that neither noticed the figure leaning against the door frame

'Where was my invite to this little Pyjama party that's happening?' Henry smiled as he came into the room and knelt on the floor in front of Stevie.

'Dad! It's not a party, we're just feeding Jason, he was really hungry' Stevie said with a roll of the eyes

'Why are you up anyway? Is Alison awake? Did Jason really wake up the whole house?' Elizabeth asked

'No, I must have fell back asleep and then when I woke up you still weren't back so I came to check everything was ok. And no Alison is not awake, you know her she can sleep through a hurri..' he never got to finish the sentence as they were interrupted by the sound of Jason burping and Stevie giggling 'even I feel better after that' Henry joked and stood up stretching

'That was really loud wasn't it' Stevie said still laughing

'It certainly was and look, he's already falling back asleep. You did a great job baby, you're a pro'

'Mom! I'm not a baby. Alison is and Jason is, but I'm not'

'You'll always be my baby, no matter how big you grow, you all will be. Now let's take advantage of this peace and quiet and get back to bed'


End file.
